D.C. Police Force Has 34 Arrests of Members This Year

"I'm the police and I'm gonna get inside," she said, according to the papers. The incident was captured on video. Moore, 27, had worked at the police academy. She faces a hearing Jan. 7 in D.C. Superior Court.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

A vice sting snared Officer Jeffrey McLaughlin, 42, who encountered an undercover officer posing as a prostitute about 10 blocks from police headquarters in downtown Washington on July 13. McLaughlin offered her $50 for sex, authorities said. Prosecutors agreed to drop the case when he promised to go to a diversion program known as "john school."

Gaithersburg police arrested D.C. Officer Sarah Guarin, 25, in September on charges of drunken driving, court documents show. Her trial is scheduled for March.

Harold Martin, a Washington defense lawyer who represents about a half-dozen officers facing criminal cases -- including Davis, Moore and McLaughlin -- said of the matters, "This is more personal drama as opposed to abuse of their position."

Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee, declined to comment for this article.

Some of the charges this year stem from incidents in previous years, such as the case of Jerome Merrill, 31, who is charged in U.S. District Court with using a deadly weapon during a crime of violence. Merrill is accused of using his service weapon to pistol-whip a drug dealer in February 2005. He pleaded not guilty and faces trial in February.

Two officers from the 1st Police District, Nathan Minor and Peter Snipes, pleaded guilty in October to making false statements to cover up an August 2006 incident in which they mistakenly let a prisoner escape.

Minor and Snipes admitted to concocting a story to explain how the prisoner got away from them at Howard University Hospital. They claimed that he kicked Minor in the stomach before running out. It turned out that neither officer was near the prisoner when he fled. Minor, 33, is to be sentenced Friday, and Snipes, 32, is to be sentenced next month.

Officer Elijah Shahid was accused of shooting his wife, also an officer, in the leg in August 2006. That case was dropped after his wife declined to testify against him, prosecutors said. Shahid, 35, who worked in the 7th Police District, was dismissed from the police force in February. The number of officers arrested this year in the District is significantly higher than in other departments along the East Coast. In Baltimore, a department with about 3,200 officers, three trainees were arrested this year, according to Baltimore police. In Philadelphia, which has a 6,000-member force, 23 officers have been arrested this year, officials said.

Local jurisdictions have their share of problems, too. In Montgomery County, which has about 1,150 officers, 10 officers were charged with billing a part-time employer for hours worked while they were supposedly on duty. Eight pleaded guilty; two await trial. In Fairfax County, which has about 1,200 officers, five have been charged with crimes this year, according to Fairfax police.

Inspector Matt Klein, who heads the D.C. police internal affairs division, said the department takes its cases seriously and assigns an investigator to follow each one. He added that the arrests should be put in perspective.

"The vast majority of officers in the department are outstanding, hard-working officers that never cross paths with internal affairs," he said.

Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham, who is in charge of the internal affairs bureau, said the department will start a training program to educate officers about domestic violence and alcohol abuse.

"We are bothered by the fact that there are so many domestic violence and alcohol-related arrests," Newsham said. "The department will take action and have a campaign to inform and train our people to avoid these types of things."

He said all arrested officers are ordered to an employee assistance program for an evaluation. "We anticipate improvement next year," Newsham said.

Staff writers Tom Jackman and Ernesto Londo¿o and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.